Firefighters Checked For Plague After Leaving House 'coated In Fleas'...

**megimoo** · 08-18-2011, 06:25 PM

WATERBURY, Conn. (CBS Connecticut) – Firefighters are used to dealing with threats from smoke and flames, dangerous footing or beams falling from above. But Waterbury firefighters checking an abandoned building recently encountered a smaller – but potentially deadly hazard......Fleas.

Chief David Martin says Waterbury firefighters routinely check abandoned buildings for fire hazards, and when four fighters left after a check at 48 Taylor Street, they “didn’t realize until they came out and got back on the engine that they were literally coated in fleas.”

“One of the guys described it as they had thousands of them, crawling on them. “
SNIP
But the chief adds that there is one thing he’s found in telling this particular story: “Most people, as you start to talk to them about it –you may feel it right now — they tend to start getting a little itchy, and feel like there’s something crawling on them, just from the conversation.”

http://connecticut.cbslocal.com/2011...ll-over-fleas/

**SarasotaRepub** · 08-18-2011, 08:43 PM

Thanks megi...<scratch> thanks a ton...:mad::D

**megimoo** · 08-18-2011, 09:28 PM

Originally Posted by SarasotaRepub

Thanks megi...<scratch> thanks a ton...:mad::D

Don't bitch too much , it could have been about body Lice,Fleas and Cooties ...:D

Sonnabend · 08-18-2011, 09:34 PM

It's highly unlikely. Had there been any rats carrying either strain of plague, there would already have been cases reported from the previous tenants / neighbors. Also the strains are carried by the black rat, and as far as I know, there are very few strains of those in the US.

The diseases have a very short incubation period and a high morbidity rate, so if there were any chance of it in that building, they'd have known long since. There are actually TWO types of plague, which MegaMoron forgot to add. Pneumonic and bubonic , known as such owing to the sores, known as buboes that appear. Bubonic is infected by fleas carried by the black rat, pneumonic is a respiratory version, aerosol on nature, airborne, both easily treated with antibiotics.

Nothing to be concerned about - a non story in fact.